Once upon a time there was a lady
by T.E.D.S
Summary: Rodolphus Lestrange comes back from a Death Eaters' meeting and realizes there is something wrong with his wife. One-shot most probably.


_**Once upon a time there was a lady. She had no children, and no happiness either. And at first she cried for a long time, but then she became wicked...**_ (Mikhail Bulgakov, _The Master and Margarita_)

Rodolphus came back from some hunt for Muggles, humming his favorite tune. He was terribly hungry, but happy that he'd just had some fun and he was pretty sure that his beloved, beautiful wife was waiting for him with a warm meal. So he entered the manor in a wonderful mood.

At first sight he noticed that there was definitely something wrong with Bellatrix. She was smiling, but her smiles were fake. She was talking with him, but her voice was almost unnoticeably shaking. And… was it just his impression or were her eyes really slightly reddish and puffy? Even though Rodolphus had an opinion of a cruel and uncaring Death Eater, he still cared about his wife. He did even love her, which made Bellatrix luckiest of all Death Eaters' wives. So as the two of them ate, he was trying to subtly ask her about it, but it was in vain. She plainly didn't want to tell him, which worried Rodolphus even more. For one and half a year of their marriage neither of them kept secrets from the other, not counting secrets like birthday gifts. And this was serious. What could she hide from him? He never hid anything from her. Of course, he was aware that she didn't have to enjoy his talks about how wonderful it was to be a Death Eater, so he always asked her if she wanted to hear this. She was, however, always quite excited to hear about tortures and murdering. But this was different. He asked what was wrong, and didn't get an answer. This wasn't good, but he didn't really want to insist. Bellatrix seemed so fragile this day and he didn't want to shatter her. So he was miserably trying to cheer her up with small things she loved, such as flowers, chocolates and wine, and in the evening he managed to receive a sincere smile from her. He calmed down a little. It wasn't so bad definitely. But in the late evening, when he came to the bedroom, Bellatrix was sobbing quietly there, sitting on the bed and hugging her knees to her chest. Rodolphus quietly sad down next to her. She wiped her tears and bit her lower lip as he embraced her caringly.

'Bella, don't lie to me' he whispered. 'I can see something is wrong. I won't help you if I don't know…'  
>Bellatrix looked away.<br>'You can't help me anyway' she whispered back. Rodolphus hugged her more tightly.  
>'Is it my fault?'<br>'No…'

'Would me knowing make it any worse?'

Bellatrix looked in her husband's eyes.

'…yes…' she whispered so quietly that he barely heard it.

'Just that you say it or what you think I'll react?' Rodolphus inquired.

'Your… your reaction…' Bellatrix gulped. Rodolphus stroked her curls.

'I promise I'll do you no harm, regardless what you say' he whispered seriously. Sure, he was a Death Eater, he was insane, he was cruel, but he still cared about his wife and he could be serious sometimes. And Bellatrix could see he was serious.

'Please, tell me, Bella' Rodolphus said once again. 'If you don't tell me, I'll still think I did something wrong to me…'

'You… you didn't.'

'Then what happened?'

Bellatrix looked away once again. But then, she pulled all her courage and faced her husband.

'Rod, I… I got myself checked today. I'm sterile.'

'And this is what you didn't want to tell me?' Rodolphus frowned. He kissed his wife on the forehead, then both cheeks, and eventually the lips. 'Is that something you thought would make me react bad?'

Bellatrix nodded.

'Because… I'm just useless as a pure-blood wife… if I can't give you an heir…' she said shyly. Rodolphus shook his head with a gentle smile.

'I didn't marry you to have an heir. I married you to have YOU. And if you feel useless as a pure-blood wife, we'll find something you can be useful at!'

Bellatrix blinked a few times. Rodolphus glanced at his bare left forearm and flashed his most insane grin, the one she fell in love with.

'I know! I know!' he squealed happily, bouncing on the bed. 'You can join us!'

'Join us?' Bellatrix repeated in disbelief.

'Yup! Join the Death Eaters! That'll be fun, fun, fun!'

Bellatrix smiled weakly.

'Do you really think I'll be a good Death Eater?' she asked. Rodolphus nodded enthusiastically.

'Sure! You're powerful, you're fast with wand, and you'll love having fun! We'll be the first married pair of Death Eaters! You'll be the first Death Eater woman! Don't you feel a thrill at the mere thought of a double Cruciatus hitting your victim?'

Bellatrix smiled dreamingly.

'Actually… I do…'

'I knew it, I knew it!' Rodolphus bounced again. He held his wife's right hand in his left hand. 'See, just imagine it! Of course, we'll need practice, like with Rabbit before, but you're smart, you'll learn fast…'

Bellatrix sighed.

'That's it' she said miserably. 'I don't really know many curses…'

'You'll learn them then' Rodolphus was still grinning insanely. 'You'll manage, come on, you'll be a Death Eater, it'll be fun, fun, fun…'

'Fun, fun, fun' Bellatrix repeated. Rodolphus kissed her on the nose.

'Fun, fun, fun!' he squealed. 'Remember how I promised you to make you at least as insane as I am?'

'Um, sure' Bellatrix nodded. Rodolphus kissed her once again.

'Seems I'm doing well!'

_Please review! Reviews are love._


End file.
